So with Johnny’s eternal flame extinguished, the FF needs a new young toyetic star to join their ranks…and it’s…SPIDEY! Who would have seen that coming?

Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting will chronicle the new lineup in a book called FF — for Future Foundation, which will include some “top secret members” according to the PR.

Just as there have been many deaths in the Fantastic Four over the years, there have been many replacement members, including Crystal, Medusa, Luke Cage, Nova, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel II, Ant-Man II, Namorita Prentiss, Storm, and the Black Panther.

“FF will alter the very fabric of the Marvel Universe,” explained Tom Brevoort, Senior Vice President of Publishing. “Jonathan and Steve have crafted a unique, powerful new series that’s going to surprise a lot of fans with its combination of mind-blowing ideas and visuals.”
 
Will one of these secret members be H.E.R.B.I.E.?

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PLEASE TOM BREVOORT.

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Cover by Steve Epting

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Cover by Daniel Acuna

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1 COMMENT

  1. I’ve not read a new Fantastic Four comics since… maybe when Grant Morrison did that miniseries, what 15 years ago…

    But… I love the idea of this and I actually love those costumes. And I’m a bitter old jerk that hates change!

    However… “Future Foundation” is already the name of multiple real world organizations. So, I don’t know, maybe google your idea before you announce it.

  9. The covers by Daniel Acuna are terrific … but it’s too bad that the FF couldn’t get this make-over WITH Johnny Storm onboard.

  10. Is anyone seriously going to read this? Another trap set up so Johnny Storm can come strolling back in two or three years with a final full-page panel of him standing there asking how things were and everyone acting surprised.
    It’s the same malaise that occurred with the Superman and Batman titles during the last few years when neither were featured. Is it a trick? Is it a slight of hand? Look at the sales figures and you’ll see what a stupid idea it was — and Marvel can’t wait to do the same. Ho-hum.

  13. “I can’t imagine white outfits would be good for crime fighting/super sciencing.”

    Elijah Snow might disagree. :)

  14. so along with being in his own multiple titles, guest shots in other books, mini-series and being in two avengers titles, spidey will now be on yet another team/title, and the over exposure hits just keep on coming. unless there are plans to actually (gasp) drop spidey from at least one avengers title, i guess we’ll see. to be honest this doesn’t look bad at all, but i would find this alot more fun and interesting if spidey wasn’t already in so many other damn titles every month. thanks for letting me rant!

  16. Back when the Inhumans, the Silver Surfer and Wyatt Wingfoot were in the book fairly regularly, Stan joked that they should change the title to FANTASTIC FOURTEEN.

    Seems like they could do that here, but I count only 13 on the…

    No, wait, 14. Missed Leech before.

    It does count the parrots, though.

  17. You know what this means, right? That Future Foundation is going to have to fight Uncanny X-Force at some point. And in an amusing reversal, FF Spider-Man is now the one who looks too much like Uncanny Deadpool.

    But seriously, I think it’s an interesting concept at least. I like the costume designs, other than the color…just plain black and white looks so dull, the designs would look better with say a white, black, and dark blue three-color scheme.

    I think its kinda clever having a chest logo that symbolizes “three,” with a different spot being white for each of the main three…but the actual design itself is a little generic (http://www.123rf.com/photo_6729850_logo-three-hexagons-pink-and-black.html).

    Also, I think it would’ve been more interesting to switch Human Torch out with another elemental character, like Iceman on the team would’ve been interesting. Spider-Man? It just seems odd…might as well have gone with Wolverine, it would’ve been good for a laugh at least.

  18. Everyone who’s complaining about Spider-Man being on so many teams have not yet figured it out. They’re CLONES!!! The REAL Spider-Man/Peter Parker is trapped somewhere in time following the events of One More Day!

  19. First a black costume that nearly eat him, then a Broadway play that nearly kills him, now a snowman costume. Spidey can’t cut a break, can he?
    As far as the FF go, the best storyline in recent years was Unthinkable.
    Much as I like Hickman’s work, it would take some doing to top that!

  23. Why limit Spidey to super hero teams? Had they gotten on this replacement concept back in the 60’s, he could’ve replace JFK in the Kennedy family, or Brian Jones in the Rolling Stones.

  24. Anyone else feel a little uncomfortable seeing the Thing in those white undershorts? Should he really be walking around in public in those things?

  25. Hickman’s run has been very good so far. I’m generally not interested in the FF, but it’s been a good read so I have confidence he can make this work.

    Spider-Man! blah… Wolverine will be next I guess. It’s a bit of a yawn for the stunt, but I think the story and the ‘Future Foundation’ will be a good read.

  26. very excited for this. plus it’s 2.99 after the first issue. hickman’s proving to be an easier to digest form of the great Morrison.

  27. So Reed let Spidey borrow the same Time-Turner that he lent to Wolverine? Nice! Now both Spidey and Ben are in both the FF and the Avengers!

    (Reed probably saw how Superman’s worked and adapted it. Batman doesn’t strike me as someone who would share something like that, even with Reed.)

  28. Back when the Inhumans, the Silver Surfer and Wyatt Wingfoot were in the book fairly regularly, Stan joked that they should change the title to FANTASTIC FOURTEEN.

    Seems like they could do that here, but I count only 13 on the…

    No, wait, 14. Missed Leech before.

    It does count the parrots, though.

    __________________________

    Several years ago over on the comixfan message boards, I suggested to Tom Brevoort that Marvel should change the name of the FF to FANTASTIC FOUR PLUS and add new members to the team without having to get rid of any of the original 4 core members. Tom told me that he couldn’t see Marvel ever changing the name of the title of the flagship title that started the Marvel Universe.

  30. While I agree Spider-Man doesn’t necessarily need to be on another team, I think that a) anyone who is familiar with Hickman’s work should give him the benefit of the doubt, and b) this is actually a better team fit for Spider-Man than the Avengers, and I am hopeful this will give us the chance to see the “science nerd” aspect of Spider-Man given more prominence than usual. I’m looking forward to it.

  31. I love the imagery. I can’t wait to read the collections. Hickman has done a phenomenal job writing FF. I look forward to their new adventures in these different costumes. I appreciate the change and even if everything goes back to the way it was: a dead character comes back and the costumes return to blue at least there will be this moment in the mix.

  32. Kate Willaert:

    “Also, I think it would’ve been more interesting to switch Human Torch out with another elemental character, like Iceman on the team would’ve been interesting.”

    Now there’s a clever idea. That would be an instance where you maintain the status quo, but everything is different. “Bobby, melt these chains and free us!” “Uh, Reed …” “Oh, yeah …”

    I like the white costumes. The hexagon sympol is nifty, but I’m wondering if they’ll adapt it for Johnny’s inevitable return. I can’t help thinking that Spider-Man looks like some kind of ninja. It’s basically his black costume with photoshop’s “invert” filter applied.

    This looks interesting. Since I’m not following ANY comic book on a monthly basis, I’ll be happy to give Fantastic Whatchamacallit a chance.

  33. While I have to say I’ve really liked Hickman & Eptings version I can’t say that I like the directions it has gone off into. I think it would have been so much better to first Give Johnny some kick @$$ time before the creative team decided to send him off to the obscurity It should have been a blaze of glory. The Watcher Uatu should have made an appereance to view this Historic end.
    They could send the team with Spidey into the NZ looking for Johnny coming across many different sub plots through out that universe With very cool apperances of the various Cosmic characters.. Silver Surfer.. Adam Warlock… Annihulus…Terrax..The Inhumans… not including new ones we haven’t encountered. I think they totally pooched it. I do like Spiderman being part of the FF. Peter & Johnny fought like brother from time to time as far back as I can remember. Its a good fit.

  34. The New costumes Suck. Costume changes very rarely last any length of time. They could have made it no such a drastic change. Basically throwing Johnny’s memmory under the proverbial bus. The only plus is Epting’s art is top notch.

  35. I love Epting’s work, but why is The Rock and Miley Cyrus playing Reed and Sue on his cover? Is this some kind of meta-commentary on his part about Marvel’s embrace of using celebrity photo-models on everything?

    And does Spidey really have PUPILS in this suit? Both covers have ’em!